Ukraine’s interior minister among helicopter crash victims
- A helicopter carrying several Ukrainian officials has crashed near a nursery outside the capital, Kyiv.
- Ukrainian interior minister Denys Monastyrskyy, two other top officials, a child, and 10 others were among those who died in the disaster.
Russia not invited to Munich Security Conference in February
Russian government officials were not invited to this year’s Munich Security Conference.
“We do not want to offer a stage for those who have stamped over international law,” Christoph Heusgen, who chairs the annual event, told the Reuters news agency.
The conference, known as “Davos for defence”, will take place on February 17-19, days before the anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Organizers have not yet published a schedule for the event.
Last year Zelenskyy, US Vice President Kamala Harris and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg were among the dignitaries attending the event.
Ukraine needs a ‘significant increase’ of arms: NATO chief
Ukraine needs a “significant increase”, and such support is the only way to a negotiated peaceful solution, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said.
“This is a pivotal moment in the war and the need for a significant increase in support for Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told the Reuters news agency in an interview on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.
“If we want a negotiated peaceful solution tomorrow, we need to provide more weapons today.”
Defence leaders from around 50 countries and NATO will hold talks at Germany’s Ramstein Air Base on Friday, where the focus will be on German’s Leopard 2 battle tanks.
Kyiv hopes new Western weapons will give it fresh military momentum this year.
‘Another very sad day today’: Ukraine’s first lady
At the World Economic Forum of global leaders in Davos, Ukraine’s first lady, Olena Zelenskaa, said with teary eyes, “another very sad day today – new losses” as she reacted to the news of a fatal plane crash.
The Helicopter crash on Wednesday morning comes just days after a missile strike on an apartment building in Dnipro that killed 45 people, including six children.
After opening the session, the forum held 15 seconds of silence to honour the Ukrainian officials killed in the incident.
The deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office Kyrylo Tymoshenko shared a similar message and said, “Haven’t had time to recover from one tragedy, there is already another one.”
‘Two possibilities’ for cause of crash, says Ukrainian official
The Ukrainian member of parliament, Oleskiy Goncharenko, told Al Jazeera’s James Bay at Davos that the helicopter crash on the outskirts of Kyiv which left the interior minister dead was an “awful tragedy”.
“I knew the interior minister personally, and he was a decent man. It was very painful, and also, losing our children again is so painful. So this is a tragedy,” he said.
Goncharenko said that while an investigation has begun into the cause of the incident, there are two possibilities, “the first is an accident, and the second is a terrorist attack by Russia – an act of sabotage.”
“It will not affect us on the battlefield, but definitely we will now need a new minister, and I hope this will be again a strong man or woman,” he said.
Everything you need to know about Ukraine’s interior minister
A fatal helicopter crash near a children’s nursery in Brovary has killed 14 people, including Ukraine’s Interior Minister, Denys Monastyrskyy.
Monastyrskyy’s deputy, Yevhen Yenin, and Interior Ministry State Secretary Yurii Lubkovych were also killed in Wednesday’s crash.
The interior minister, who was appointed to the position in 2021 by Zelenskyy, was integral to Ukraine’s security during Russia’s invasion.
Helicopter crash death toll revised as rescue work continues
In the hours since a helicopter crash in Ukraine, officials and emergency services have announced a death toll ranging from 14 to 18 people killed, including children.
The emergency services’ latest toll is 14 killed, including at least one child.
While Al Jazeera has been unable to verify the overall scale of loss and damage independently, it appears undoubtedly that Ukraine’s interior minister is among the dead.
A special tribunal on Russia needs full support: EU official
Any special tribunal to judge Russia’s invasion of Ukraine must have enough international backing to credibly prosecute Russia’s political and military leaders, the European Union’s top justice official said.
“As regards accountability for the crime of aggression in particular, currently, Russian leaders cannot be held accountable … before any international jurisdiction,” said European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders.
The Hague-based International Criminal Court has the powers to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, but Reynders said it could not hand out punishments to Russian officials.
“A possible tribunal set up to prosecute the crime of aggression would need … to have a sufficiently international character to relinquish immunities in a legitimate way and to act on behalf of the international community,” he said.
Canada to send 200 armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine
Canada will send 200 Senator armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine, Defence Minister Anita Anand has announced during a visit to Kyiv.
Anand met with Ukrainian officials, including Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov. They discussed how Canada could continue helping Kyiv and updated him on Operation UNIFER, Canada’s training mission for Ukrainian soldiers.
“During today’s productive visit to Kyiv, I met with Ukrainian officials, including my friend and colleague Minister Reznikov to learn about Ukraine’s most pressing security needs and to reaffirm Canada’s steadfast support,” Arnand said. “Today’s donation of 200 armoured vehicles demonstrates our continued commitment to the security of the Ukrainian people.”
The two defence ministers will meet again on Friday at Ramstein, a US airbase in Germany, where Kyiv’s allies will discuss further military assistance.
Since the war began, Canada has committed more than $5bn in financial, military and humanitarian to Ukraine.
